Gus Bradley Goat of the Week, According to Peter King

The Jacksonville Jaguars showed some resilience at the end of their 16-14 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, as Blake Bortles drove the team down the field for a touchdown with less than a minute left. The Jaguars then miraculously recovered an onside kick and managed to get Josh Scobee in field goal range.

Ultimately, the kick was blocked and the Jaguars fell to 0-6, but the initial reaction by most (including myself) was Gus Bradely had a rough game and made some bad decisions.

Peter King over at MMQB agrees, and he has head coach Gus Bradley as one of his “goats of the week.”

"Gus Bradley, head coach, Jacksonville. With 12 seconds left, and no timeouts left, trailing by two at Tennessee, the Jags had a third-and-two at the Tennessee 37. The Jaguars had just been handed a gain of eight yards on a sideline-route to put the ball at the 37. And Bradley, instead of taking six or eight more free yards on another sideline route, chose to put Josh Scobee on the field for the 55-yard field goal try. Now, there’s no guarantee Blake Bortles completes a ball on third-and-two. But why not try? Why settle for a 55-yard attempt when you’ve got a chance to get six or eight yards closer? Bradley needs to help his kicker there, and he didn’t."

While you could make the argument the Jaguars should have gone for one more play to gain yards for the field goal attempt, it was hardly Bradley’s worst decision of the day. Both of his challenges were absolutely unjustifiable and had no chance to be overturned. Whoever is in charge of reviewing plays upstairs and advising him with challenges made him look silly.

As far as the final sequence of the game, it’s understandable that Bradley opted for the field goal with 12 seconds left. The Titans had been getting pressure on Bortles pretty consistently, and the Jaguars are trotting out 3 rookie receivers who have never been in that kind of situation. It’s not Bradley’s fault the kick got blocked.